Overcoming Procrastination

Assess your level of motivation.

How motivated are you to change your study habits and improve your time management? Overcoming procrastination is hard, and achieving your goals won’t be possible unless you are motivated to make real changes in your current study, time management, and organizational habits.

Set specific, achievable, realistic goals.

Ask yourself, what are your goals for being in medical school, and what it will take to reach them? How much work do you need to put in to reach your goals?

1. Start small. Set small and achievable goals and keep yourself accountable. Small changes can lead to large changes as you experience positive feelings of reducing procrastination.
2. Once you achieve small goals, set larger goals. Continue to hold yourself accountable.
3. Setting goals will become an ongoing process. Analyze the successes and failure and learn from that to set new goals.
4. If you fail to reach your goals, scale them down. If you cannot scale them down, reflect on your level of motivation.
5. Accept occasional relapses and failures.

While overcoming procrastination, you will experience relapses and failure. Don’t give up! Instead, reflect on the reason why for your relapse, and use this to change your next goal setting.

Think back about your main goal of being in medical school. Are the current study habits, getting you where you want to be? Do you need to make new changes?

Use what you learn to change your next set of goals.

Celebrate Success

Celebrate your victories! When you achieve a goal reward yourself in a specific and meaningful way. Keep track of your successes and reflect on them when you are struggling. Don’t lose sight of what you have accomplished.

Dr. Jasna Vuk,

Associate Professor, Student Learning Services

Academic Affairs Educational and Student Success Center, UAMS

Adapted from Cornell University Learning Strategies Center www.lsc.cornell.edu

©UAMS Student Success Center/ Vuk, J. M.D., Ph.D. July/2015